Pace Environmental Notes, the weblog of the Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Collection, is a gateway to news, recent books and articles, information resources, and legal research strategies relevant to the fields of environmental, energy, land use, animal law and other related disciplines.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment -- NAE

From the afterword:
" In the biblical story of Joseph, the climate changed, and drought came. The people of Egypt might have starved. But, as J. Matthew Sleeth, MD, author of Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action, says, Joseph was wise and stored up crops for the years of hardship. Sleeth sees a clear parallel to today. “There was a climate crisis. The people obeyed. They conserved, and lives were saved.” Today, Sleeth says, we need to plan ahead for what climate changes might bring.

Wealthy people and nations may be affected by changes to the climate, but we have resources to adapt. The poor do not. As followers of Jesus, committed to justice and compassion, we seek to understand the potential threats to the lives and well-being of poor and vulnerable people. We do not claim to know exactly what will happen as temperatures rise. But we can come alongside the poor and make it possible to adapt to rapid changes, and even by our own choices, to lessen the impacts of climate change.